SOUTH 
not reach Cape I^vaiis until the beginning of June. He went 
out with Cope and HayAvard on March 29 to get his sledge 
and brought it as far as Pram Point, on the south side of Hut 
Point, He had to leave the sledge there owing to the condition 
of the sea-ice. He and his companions lived an uneventful life 
under primitive conditions at the hut. The weather was bad, 
and though the temperatures recorded were low, the young 
sea-ice continually broke away. The blubber-stove in use at 
the hut seemed to have produced soot and grease in the usual 
large quantities, and the men and their clothing suffered 
accordingly. The whites of their eyes contrasted vividly with 
the dense blackness of their skins. Wild and Joyce had a 
great deal of trouble with their frost-bites. Joyce had both 
feet blistered, his knees were swollen, and his hands also were 
blistered. Jack devised some blubber-lamps, which produced 
an uncertain light and much additional smoke. Mackintosh 
records that the members of the party were contented enough 
but " unspeakably dirty," and he writes longingly of baths and 
clean clothing. The store of seal-blubber ran low early in April, 
and all hands kept a sharp look-out for seals. On April 15 
several seals were seen and killed. The operations of killing and 
skinning made worse the greasy and blackened clothes of the 
men. It is to be regretted that though there was a good deal 
of literature available, especially on this particular district, the 
leaders of the various parties had not; taken advantage of it 
and so supplemented their knowledge. Joyce and Mackintosh 
of course had had previous Antarctic experience : but it was 
open to all to have carefully studied the detailed instructions 
published in the books of the three last Expeditions in this 
quarter. 
262 
